for future reference: don’t expect to be able to hike all day then drink two pitchers of beer without getting a little bit hungover.

let’s recap yesterday’s activities: 7:00am woke up (yes, 7:00am. it’s true) 7:05am ate half a box of raisin bran 7:10am ate three granola bars 7:30am left camp 11:00am arrived at first shelter 11:02am ate a snickers bar (slathered in peanut butter) 11:04am ate another snickers + peanut butter 11:06am ate four ounces of summer sausage 11:10am ate a bagel (slathered in peanut butter) 11:13am took a nap 1:00pm left shelter 4:30pm arrived in damascus, VA 4:35pm ran in to Half Moon, who suggested we drink beer 4:45pm took a quick shower 4:50pm stopped at the library for a quick web update 5:00pm started a long night of drinking and eating

now i’m taking a zero day. not that i could hike today even if i wanted too.

have i mentioned yet that i’ve only had to walk in rain THREE days this year? last year i hiked for eleven days and it rained on six. this year Mother Nature has cooperating by raining only during my town days. last night and today, as random examples :-).

Damascus is a happening place right now. hikers from all over the trail are getting stuck here, trying to figure out how to avoid taking a full week of zero days before the big party starts next week. i will most likely take a zero today and tomorrow because i need to get new sneakers, and i might have to order them online and have them shipped overnight. then i will get a shuttle 75 miles up the trail and walk southbound so i get here during trail days. (it’s now 1:15pm… time for another update) town days are killer on the wallet. i just bought a really nice down sleeping bag. saved me over one pound in pack weight, but cost a few $’s :-). now i’m thinking about switching from my king size 10’x12' tarp down to something smaller. of course, then i’ll also have to switch to a smaller pack. sigh… maybe another update later. i’ve got a lot of time to kill today.